The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) will hold another public hearing next month to further discuss the proposed increase of the airport’s passenger service charge (terminal fee).
The MCIAA board has decided to hold another hearing on Oct. 7 at Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino Mactan, MCIAA general manager Nigel Paul Villarete said.
“There was a request (to hold another one), and it’s always good policy to get a broader public consultation, so that the board can get better inputs on which to base its public policy,” Villarete said about the reason for holding another public hearing — the first one was held last Sept. 11.
The MCIAA also withheld the decision to implement on Oct. 1 the terminal fee increase pending the final decision of the board after the second public hearing.
He said the board was not required under the law to hold another consultation, but they heeded requests to hold another one.
“We really would appreciate if there will be position papers submitted,” said Villarete to those who oppose the increase.
The inputs from the two public hearings, position papers submitted, and the results of the Focus Group Discussion which they held in August will all be used as reference by the board for its final decision on the proposed terminal fee increase.
In the first public consultation, Villarete said that the airport authority needed to increase terminal fee by P100 for domestic passengers and P200 for international travellers. (See table)
He said this was their way to generate enough income to be used for more improvements in the airport.
In the past, the MCIAA earned P1.5 billlion annually which was what they used to make improvements in the airport.
With GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. set to take over by Nov. 1 for the operation of the old and soon to be built new terminal, Villarete said, their revenue stream will go down to only P500 million a year which will only be enough to cover operations cost including salaries of the 400 MCIAA airport employees.
He also cited the board’s planned overlaying of runways project, which will cost at least P300 million.
Several groups, however, like the Network of Independent Travel Agencies headed by Consul Robert Lim Joseph, oppose the proposed increase.
Joseph said the timing is off and that the MCIAA can tap the P14.4 billion which GMR-Megawide has given to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) after they won the bid to build and operate the P17.5 billion MCIA new airport terminal.
Villarete, however, said that the MCIAA would try not to rely too much on national funding, and it would do its best to generate its own income to be able to improve and add more infrastructure in the airport.
He said despite the first hearing, more people still want to fully understand the rationale behind the increase, which is “overdue” considering that the last increase was in 1999 for international passengers and in 2006 for domestic passengers.